Here you go, ya'll - the building without the hideous red awning. I took these images this morning while walking to work. (Bear with me - this is my first time posting photos on this forum).

W.P. Story Building - southeast corner of 6th & Broadway - as of April 23, 2012.

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3636/photo20j.jpg

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3608/photo21xa.jpg

:previous:

That is great, ersatz, thank you. Excellent first photo-posts. Well, the seven arched-but-bricked-up openings are interesting. Were they from a previous remodeling? Do we have any pics of such an incarnation? As for the garage opening--it's great to see the grille over it uncovered again....

That looks a lot better without the red awning all around. The Google Earth view still shows it on there but that's usually a year or two older. Now they need to restore the area above the windows the its original glory.

^^^
I bet some HGTV designer re-purposed that art deco garage door for some suburban ranch house redesign...

Thanks for posting your photographs ersatz01.


http://imageshack.us/a/img171/6035/a...odaybyersa.jpg
photo by ersatz01


below: The original 1908 design
http://imageshack.us/a/img191/7444/a...lstorybldg.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...ner-m3353.html

Where in the heck did those arches come from? I figured the 1934 makeover by Stile O. Clements was mostly cosmetic.
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I just found another piece of the puzzle and almost fell off my chair! Here is the base of the Walter P. Story Building as it appeared in the 1950s.

Is this Clement's streamline moderne renovation from 1934...or is this yet another makeover?

http://imageshack.us/a/img515/6412/a...lenusccopy.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1335237065143

I'd give anything to see a color photograph of this facade. If this is indeed Clement's design...I am visualizing a reflective silver metal!

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Here is the above photograph in it's entirety.

http://imageshack.us/a/img15/6171/aalookmullenusc.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1335237065143

This still doesn't explain the bricked up arches that were uncovered earlier this week.

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Of course it's OK Gaylord_Wilshire! Everyone here should visit your wonderful blog.

http://berkeleysquarelosangeles.blogspot.com/

I am forever grateful for all your contributions to 'noirish Los Angeles'.
Your interest in this thread over all these years has been nothing short of amazing!

That's very funny because on Saturday my wife and I hiked to that very spot on an "unofficial" trail I discovered that leads up there from the Bowl. It's actually quite a nice little walk, with seldom seen views of the 101 and Hollywood along the way.

Yes, there's an elevated lookout spot near the turnout, busy with "See Hollywood" tour vans and loads of out of towners. Actually I like seeing them around here, and feel glad that visitors come here to see the sights. Heck, I've lived here for 35 years, and still enjoy seeing the sights.

Speaking of unofficial trails, we also explored the longer "off limits" trail on the Eastern side of the pass this past weekend. Though trashy in places, and with remains of some homeless camps, it has some nice views of the Hollywood Freeway and passes by the big cross on the hill. We saw several deer running around up there. Here are some "unauthorized" views.

-------------------


Looking North towards Universal City. In the lower center, the Highland exit ramp peels away the the left. The wide island shaped area between the 101 and Cahuenga West, now a highway maintenance yard, may in fact be the former site of Monkey Island. (More on that soon.)

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/EastPass/100_6597.JPG


Looking East, the Hollywood Reservoir dam is on the right. (The one that gave way in Earthquake.) Years ago while jogging by the lake I saw an enormous turtle swimming across the surface near the corner of the reservoir, in the right foreground. There's a small caretaker's cottage in the lower right, hidden by trees.

The house near the upper left of the shot with the big white wall used to belong to Madonna, but I think she has sold it. (Was this the "Wolf Lair" home? If not, it's in that same area.)

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/EastPass/100_6601.JPG


The camera faces South here, towards Hollywood. That's the Pilgrimage Bridge across the 101, with the Ford Theater (hidden) on the left. Big townhouse development in the foreground (not too bad looking compared to so many of the hideous new projects in these hills), but I know nothing about it. The Southern part of Whitley Heights is behind the freeway, on the left.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/EastPass/100_6602.JPG


The cross, and the plaque beneath it. I wonder who owns this land?

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/EastPass/100_6592.JPG


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/EastPass/100_6595.JPG

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5994/ersatzp.jpgersatz01

A clue...?

"Mullen & Bluett were still tenants in the New Story Building in 1967 and embarked at that time on a $500,000 renovation that includes facade and interior work. A Times mention of the work spoke of glazed tile brick and white ceramic glazes."

This from what seems to be a definitive story on the Story in Blogdowntown.

In one of the comments to the Blogdowntown post is this intriguing item:
"Have you ever seen the sculpted stair well at the back of the lobby?" Calling all cameras!

A few more Story Building and Mullen Bluett items...

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2...oldcard765.jpghttp://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8...hostsigncr.jpg
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/240/genstory480.jpghttp://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8469/storypcc702.jpg

The namesake, Walter P. Story--General Story to you. His full story here; another great shot of the Story includes a PCC car.


Four pics above, clockwise: LAT; Eric Richardson; USCDL; militarymuseum.org

That Senalda Rd. Wright house has been a home of director David Lynch for many years, as well as two other buildings right next it. One of them was used in "Lost Highway" (entrance slightly altered after filming) as a main character's home, and one of them is used as a recording studio.

Ethereal_Reality:

I found a bunch of pictures of this building, but nothing showing the arches. This picture from the Patton parade in June, 1945 already shows the facade:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg191...pg&res=landing
militarymashup.com

The only thing I can think of (and it doesn't make complete sense) is that it was some kind of early earthquake retrofit done during the 1934 makeover. Possibly the building had some damage (1932 Long Beach quake?) and the arches were put in the strengthen the building. Why brick arches and not steel? :shrug:

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7544/storybldg.jpg
Library of Congress

Thank you all
 

I just wanted to thank all the recent contributors for the many great new posts in the last few weeks. It seems like this thread has been getting busier, and it's harder to respond to everything of interest -- and nearly everything posted here is interesting.

GW, I read through your Berkeley Square page and was really impressed. Obviously a huge amount of research went into it and it's interesting to read all the little details. What an amazing little neighborhood, and what a shame that it's gone.

e_r, in many of your posts it seems you've been reading my mind; several of your topics have somehow focused on places I've recently visited. Weird. I was glad to read the posts about the Story Building, as I had seen that name repeatedly when researching Lookout Mountain and wondered what the "story" was. Where did you find that "Hollywood Citizen" page? Are there more issues and/or covers available somewhere?

fhammon, good to see your mention of Nick's. We almost went there for breakfast a couple weeks ago, while exploring the "Cornfield" area. (Oops, that reminds me, I have some pics of old buildings there, that I meant to post.)

ersatz01, thanks for the Story Building photo. You saved me a trip downtown! Or maybe I'll go anyway, and explore something else instead.

And finally, Wenders, thanks for the info about the 7017 Senalda house. I've been exploring near that area too (actually the High Tower / Hollywood Heights neighborhood, which I plan to write about soon).

Actually, I've been doing tons of L.A. explorations lately, some with friends I've newly recruited to the hobby, I just haven't been so great about documenting it all here. More soon, I promise.

Anyway, thanks again, everyone. Great stuff!

No, in fact they are painting the interior hallways again. What used to be light blue and brown is now beige/tan. Everything is carpeted, drywalled with acoustic ceilings. The only time I've seen anything "old" is when I was in a utility room looking at old wiring. People are really surprised when I tell them how old this building really is.

I returned to my original post/links to see if I could find more info. on the "Hollywood Citizen".

Here's where I found the "Hollywood Citizen" image. It's an inspiring article.

http://imageshack.us/a/img690/8326/aaimagcitiizen.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img9/1506/aaimagcitiizen2.jpg
http://www.hollywoodheritage.org/new...1/Schwabs.html


In my first post I was so busy commenting on I. Magnin & Co. and Schwab's Men's Store, I failed to notice that the "Hollywood Citizens"
building was right next door to Schwab's. Duh.

below: "Hollywood Citizen" next to Schwab's.

http://imageshack.us/a/img716/8485/a...erhollywoo.jpg

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Schwab's Men's Store today.

http://imageshack.us/a/img17/4015/aa...spacemitch.jpg
mitchumlover on http://www.flickr.com/


below: It looks like the wonderfully worn doors have been replaced.

http://imageshack.us/a/img11/3526/aaimagre2flickr.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spatial...st/1602062727/

This is a great find FredH! I missed this when I was looking through the W.P. Story Building photos at the Library of Congress.
Thanks for posting it.

Postcard view of downtown Los Angeles and a rather diminutive Goodyear Blimp.

http://imageshack.us/a/img525/2718/aablimp1932.jpg
foud on ebay

How long do you think I would have to spend in Techachapi or San Quentin if I were to be caught chopping down that tree? All that restoration work and it's blocked! Anyway, ...perhaps the restoration techniques used on Schwab's will be used on the Story Building....

After watching the Video of Nancy Sinatra singing "This Town" on top of Bunker Hill and at LACMA, I found this great video of her singing "Who will Buy" at Ocean Park in Santa Monica, c.1967:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4OuEfH0ftZ...0/nancy+19.JPG

http://destinyclontz.blogspot.com/20...-will-buy.html

I'm sorry, ficus trees are the worst possible choice for sidewalk trees.